


Under False Pretense

by Elysya



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Domesticity, Hugs, M/M, Written Post S1, it's the prompt, plain fluff, the whole point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 03:39:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12548004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elysya/pseuds/Elysya
Summary: A friend of mine prompted me some hugs, and that's exactly what this is.Written post season one, takes place in happier times after season two. Dirk wants to do something nice for Todd, but fails so Todd helps him with his own gift. Fluff ensures.





	Under False Pretense

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MichelaGuerra1895](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MichelaGuerra1895/gifts).



> I was talking with Mic and another friend of ours a few months back about how our boys react to hugs, at the time we didn't know that Todd and Dirk are practically hugging-machines when it comes to each other so I wrote a little cute drabble about Dirk and his need to help Todd

Living with Dirk Gently was never easy, Todd had found that out after he'd moved in a couple of weeks after their latest case.   
  
("It's the universe, Todd! My apartment was destroyed last week by the horse we found in the bathroom, then my new flat gets burned down by a chicken," Dirk had said moving his hands back and forth as he explained all the reasons why he should live with Todd.   
  
"Look, I'm not saying no, it's just... won't it be a bit weird?" Todd had been trying to figure out what his relationship with Dirk actually meant ever since he had realized how much his new friend had helped with his pararibulitus.    
  
Dirk was, by any definition, Todd's best friend, and yet there was a weird tension between them that somehow Todd wasn't able to grasp, let alone comprehend.   
  
"I mean... I can see how you may think all the bad things that happened to your three-"   
  
"Five," Dirk corrected.   
  
"Five apartments could not be a coincidence, maybe."   
  
"I feel like there is a 'but' coming. I don't like buts, Todd. Please just get it over with." Dirk's eyes watered, he was trying to conceal the tears but Todd knew he was starting to feel alone - like maybe he was tired of having Dirk around and that was his way of telling him off.   
  
His time at Blackwing had really taken a toll on him, Todd didn't know how to help him most times and it made him feel helpless, useless and the worst friend in the world; in a word: he felt like an asshole, but he had promised Dirk not to call himself that anymore, so he didn't.   
  
"No! No! Dirk, it's not... it's not that. I..." He took a pause to look into his friend's eyes. "You know what? Okay. Sure. You can move in with me.")   
  
Todd was slowly adjusting to Dirk's weird rituals, he actually found most of them quite endearing, but it was the first time he came home from work and found his new roommate on the floor with a white box in his hand. He was moving it from one palm to another, watching it carefully from all angles with his brows furrowed and his lips pursed.   
  
"What is that?"   
  
As soon as Dirk heard his voice, he raised his head and looked at Todd with a big smile, as if his whole day had turned better now that he was back home. After a few seconds, though, Dirk returned to his box and his expression changed again to a deep sadness: his lips turned downwards and his eyes were looking at the ground.   
  
"Dirk? What's wrong?" Todd walked to his friend, he wanted to touch his arm to make him feels better (he knew how much Dirk liked people and being touched, how it helped him heal after all the years spent alone) but he didn't. He didn't know why, he just didn't.   
  
"I-" he cleared his voice, "I wanted to give you a gift so I bought you a white-noise machine. The guy at the shop told me it helps with anxiety and I noticed you had trouble sleeping ever since the case with Karen's ghost - even if it wasn't actually a ghost, that would be absurd - so I wanted to do something nice for you but I can't find the on switch won't... well, switch!" He says the last sentence filling every word with all his discomfort toward the little machine, waving it up and down with his arm like a club.   
  
"Here, wait just let me do one thing." Todd took the machine and lifted a white piece of plastic off of it. "Here, it was just secured." He gave the machine back to Dirk and he watched, pleased, as his friend finally turned it on.   
  
Dirk then launched himself at Todd, hugging him with surprising strength. Anyone could tell that Dirk had been hugged just a handful of times, because he captured Todd's arms with his own making it impossible for the boy to return the affection.   
  
"Thanks, Todd. You're really amazing. I mean it would have taken me ages to manage it if you hadn't shown up, imagine what a waste of money it would have been!" Then, as if nothing had happened, he left Todd, gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder and he run to his room, locking himself in for the rest of the night.

  
  
***

  
  
Todd had thought about the white-noise machine incident all night.   
  
He refused to believe Dirk hadn't figured out how to make it work; he wasn't the best detective ever, but he wasn't dumb. After hours of dwelling, he came to the conclusion that Dirk had done it on purpose, he just didn't understand why.   
  
He decided to face the problem first thing the morning after at the breakfast table.   
  
"Dirk, about the machine you bought me..."   
  
"Oh, does it work?" he asked, already chipper at seven in the morning.   
  
"Yes, actually. Thanks. But it wasn't that. I- you knew about the secure, right?"   
  
"Oh, yes of course. I just realized five minutes after I bought it that it would be nice if I managed to make you feel helpful in the process so you would accept my gift more easily. I know how you are with that pride of yours," he said without much thought, then he grabbed a snack bar and headed to the exit door. "I'm going grocery shopping, that fridge is practically begging to be filled. See you later!"


End file.
